Once again I am here, with some random stuff!
Because I have lots of free time.
Also, that was a lie. School is killing me and I'm literally wasting what little social life I have left writing this.
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Onto the story!
Disclaimer: Until I am a soul who can possess people, I'm neither Compa nor IF. Give it a month or two, though.
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The multiverse theory. The concept of infinite worlds across reality, each one taking a different path.
It is quite an interesting prospect, is it not?
According to it, all is real somewhere, from simple, fickle dreams to highly complex visions.
That means there is a world out there where Gamindustri itself soars in the skies.
In another, the Lastationite CPU's arrogance led to her own fall.
And in yet another, the Planeptunian CPU and the Lastationite CPU married each other in order to save a nation.
Undoubtedly, there is also one where the Deity of Sin exploited the power of stories, only to fall at the hands of the most unlikely heroes.
But not all worlds need to be so different.
There is a world where the CPU who creates swords prefers spears instead.
There is a world where the CPU who grants wishes and dreams does not have such an ability.
There is a world where a certain CPU has a very special power hidden within.
There is a world where a slightly more reckless CPU's rash actions lead to her tragic and needless end.
And, of course...
There is a world where the latter two are true at the same time.
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HYPERDEMISE NEPGEAR RE:TRY
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*Prologue*
Undying
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CPUs. Goddesses.
No matter what one prefers to call them, they are Gamindustri's competing leaders and its powerful guardians, a group of warriors who wield divine powers unmatched by any mortal in the land in order to protect this world.
As such, it is be inconceivable for them to fall before any enemy, for none is strong enough to defeat them all.
At least that's what the lilac haired girl once believed.
'This... This can't be true...!'
That's what she screams in vain inside her mind, but as much as she'd like, love, to believe that, her eyes and ears don't lie. Wide in absolute horror, light blue eyes remain focused forward, never leaving the scene before them.
It's as if all her nightmares became true at once.
'No way... This shouldn't be happening...'
"GAH!" "KYA!" "UGH...!" "ARGH!"
A gasp escapes the girl's lips each time they're hurt, each time they scream. And yet, even as her mind shouts at her to do something, anything, to help them, her body is frozen in fear, her thin, white gunblade not moving an inch as her arm remains petrified.
They're struck. They fall. They get up. They're hurt once more.
It's a horrible vicious cycle, one which the girl has been watching ever since the beginning, not raising a hand to help them.
Not moving a limb to help her sister.
'This can't be happening... It can't...!'
And so, she simply observes how they attack, how they fail and how they continue fighting, as if they have a chance.
The girl knows they don't.
Nepgear knows they're all dead.
Their enemy is too strong. The one fighting the four CPUs at once is simply far more powerful than anything she's ever seen before. Her impossible appearance only heightens the terror in the Candidate's mind.
A mature face, one of a fully fledged woman. Long neon pink hair, easily reaching her feet, tied in twintails by dark, spiked hairties. A left yellow eye, the place where the right one might be being covered by a black eye patch. Violet skin, complementing her hair whose color is more vibrant. Dark lips, natural instead of mere lipstick. Pointy ears, revealing her heritage to the world.
An elf, without a doubt. She truly has the exotic beauty of one.
If only that was all she had...
A bikini-like armor, mostly black with yellow and pink details. Eight laser-bladed wings, the laser's color going from yellow to scarlet as it extends from the black metal forming the equipment. A big, dark halo above her head, formed by two circles and several spikes decorated with her colors pointing outwards. An horrible black scythe, with a laser blade the same as her wings'.
Processor Units and an impossibly advanced weapon.
She's a CPU, no matter how everything Nepgear knows goes against that notion. She's a CPU, even if her armor looks nothing like the Candidate's white leotard. She's a CPU, and the strongest of them all.
Had the situation been different, the Planeptunian Candidate would have found an idol, an amazing woman to look up to.
Instead, she found a monster, and as she watches her destroy her friends—no, her sister and acquaintances who could become her friends—the girl can only see how terrifying she is.
Every time the CPUs hit the ground, it takes longer to raise to their feet. Every time they're hit, their movements grow more sluggish.
It doesn't come as a surprise when, one by one, they fall and remain still.
And when even Purple Heart herself can't stand up anymore, her HDD only remaining active by some miracle, a single word sounds in the girl's mind.
'No...'
A horrible smirk crosses the woman's face as she turns towards Nepgear, and without a word she begins to move, calmly walking towards the frozen Candidate.
'No... It can't be...'
The girl doesn't even register when her legs give in, knees hitting the ground mere seconds before her long, lilac hair does the same.
She can't bring herself to care about the latter, however.
'No... No... No...'
The woman is now before Nepgear, eyeing her with obvious amusement.
She'll die.
Maguc will kill her.
The girl starts shivering, her body ignoring her attempts to run, her mind repeating again and again how futile it would be.
'No... No...!'
The woman's grip on the scythe tightens, her smirk grows.
And then...
"NO!"
It all happens too fast.
In a miraculous moment of control, Nepgear points her gunblade forward and, without hesitation, raises in an upwards stab, praying for it to hit, for it to have any effect on her enemy.
For an instant, the Candidate sees the woman's amber eye widening, and a small flicker of hope shines in her mind.
A split-second later, the girl feels her weapon escaping her grasp, hand forcefully returning to her side as if pushed back.
And then...
*PSSSSH*
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The "clang" of the gunblade hitting the ground far behind the Candidate breaks the silence.
"K-Kuh...?"
"...?!"
A weird sensation, something the girl never felt, goes through her whole body. It feels... hot, but not overly so... warm, and not uncomfortable.
Something liquid is... in her mouth? Why? How?
Her eyes are staring straight into amber, her enemy's stare wide and... shocked?
Slowly, sapphire eyes point downwards.
And then she sees it.
There, on—no, in her torso is Magic's beam scythe, completely embedded in the girl's body. All her defenses and nerves alike were utterly destroyed, a testament to the woman's power. She also notices the red liquid dripping from her mouth; it would be impossible not to.
Even so, there is no pain.
And that only makes the sight even more haunting.
"W-What..."
The word comes weak, and that's when she realizes her body is growing colder.
'No...'
"You...Why..."
It takes a moment for the girl to realize those weak, hesitant words were not hers.
Once more she raises her head to stare into her enemy's—her killer's eye, azure filled with fear and disbelief gazing into yellow as the girl's vision slowly darkens.
And, mere seconds before darkness claims her, a small tinge of confusion manages to sneak into her dying mind.
The murderer's eye... That horrible amber orb...
Why...
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Why is it as scared as hers?
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Nepgear opens her eyes.
Only she doesn't, because they were always open.
Confusion overtakes her mind as she observes her surroundings.
Darkness. Nothing but pure, empty darkness surrounds the girl.
Suddenly, memories come at once, each one of them attacking her as if happening in the present.
The first time she stepped on this world through the Sharicite, and met her sister...
Her first days in existence, equipped with nothing but basic knowledge received from the Shares...
Her first birthday, when her sister gave her a simple yet precious robot kit...
Recollection by recollection, her whole life is flashes in front of her eyes, slowly and yet too fast to accompany.
When she met Noire, and thought the ravenette was the coolest person in the world, much to Neptune's dismay...
When she met Blanc, and learned to love books, also to Neptune's dismay...
When she met Vert, and was presented to the world of Visual Novels, still to Neptune's dismay...
They weren't close, but they talked sometimes. They competed, but they didn't hate each other.
And then... And then...
A scream exits her lips.
Only it doesn't, because she has no mouth.
She died.
She was killed.
The girl's nonexistent screams don't stop. Her unseen hands attempt to grip her head, only to not touch anything, going through unimpeded.
There's nowhere to step, nowhere to stand, she's just floating in darkness, legs kicking nothing amidst her panic.
She's dead. Gone.
That's the end of her tale.
Suddenly, a single image, large as the girl herself, appears before her, freezing the once Candidate on the spot.
It's Magic, staring straight at her with an amusement which feels nothing short of agonizing.
Although she wants to, although she begs her eyes to obey, Nepgear can't tear her eyes away from the normal and yet terrifying picture of the woman.
Of her murderer.
Her body starts shivering. Only it doesn't, because she has none. It doesn't take long for terror to once more overtake her mind, stronger than anything she's ever felt before.
The silent screams begin once again.
A fist which doesn't exist sails towards the dark CPU.
And so, the darkness cracks.
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The world flickers. Light returns at once.
A loud gasp escapes the Candidate's lips as all her senses are thrown in disarray. Thankfully, everything slowly becomes clearer.
Something is in her hand. A handle. Her weapon.
A glance to the right. A glance to the left. Piles of trash everywhere, and a dark dirt beneath her knees. This is the Graveyard, the same place she was before... before...
... before she died.
Instantly, an agonizing cold overtakes her body. Her free hand flies to her stomach right over the fatal wound.
Or at least where the fatal wound should be.
A gasp escapes her lips as her eyes descend to her stomach.
Nothing. There's absolutely no trace that she was hurt.
'I'm... But... What... What's going on!?'
It makes no sense. It's almost as if—
"Has fear driven you insane, I wonder?"
Another gasp. Her hand lets go of the gunblade in shock, its metallic body clattering to a few small pebbles beneath. The loudest of screams tears through Nepgear's mind, an instant reaction to the voice.
The horrifyingly familiar voice.
Her head snaps towards its source, widened eyes filled with all kinds of unspeakable horrors.
Before the girl is her enemy, her murderer.
Her breathing quickens. Cold sweat trails down her body. Not a single thought remains amidst the terror overtaking her whole mind.
"You... No... Don't..."
The words escape Nepgear's lips without consent, and to her terrible dismay the monster's smirk only widens at her fear.
'No... Don't kill me... I don't want to die... I don't... Please... Not again...'
Without another word, Magic's grip on her scythe tightens. And then—
*thud*
The world turns black.
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First time's always the scariest, innit?
Well, to begin with I have to point out that this won't be a full-blown drama, thus its absence from the tags. It's just that it's impossible for the very beginning of the story to have any other kind of mood, both because it's mk2 and because of the premise itself.
Now, onwards to the AN!
Alright, I know this isn't an "all-new, original idea," lots of fics do it. All I can say is...
Does that even matter?
Besides, I think the only Death Time Loop stories I saw around here had Self Insert MCs time travelling, so there's that. Now it's Nepgear!
... Feel the novelty.
That said, there's not much else for me to talk about.
Basically, this is now a thing.
So, until next time, you guys! And remember to review!
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*thud*
"..."
The lilac-haired girl suddenly faints, her body falling on the ground as if a lifeless doll.
"... Huh?"
Much to the scythe-wielding woman's confusion, of course.
Magic can't help but raise a quizzical eyebrow at the unconscious girl. She knew the Candidate was scared, but... was it that much? Mere seconds ago, it looked like she was about to scream, not faint on the spot, and that's quite the difference.
To see her fall this easily honestly feels rather sad, like Magic just kicked an innocent puppy, or a dogoo, or... Well, anything remotely pitiable, really.
The woman scrunches her eyebrows as she attempts to rationalize what just happened. Was it something she did? A subtle gesture of sorts? A new awakened power over fear?
Now, wouldn't that be handy? If only it wasn't wishful thinking.
But, back to reality, Magic is honestly not sure what to make of this situation.
Maybe... nothing? ... Yes, nothing is good. Turns out the Candidate faints easily, simple as that. No need to overthink it.
"How... interesting...?"
'The correct term is "underwhelming,"' her mind instantly adds.
Still, that's quite fortunate. It saves her the work of dragging a terrified, screaming girl around.
And so Magic simply shrugs before reaching for the fallen girl and lifting her unconscious form over a shoulder, abandoning her gunblade on the ground. She's still in HDD even after falling unconscious, just like the others, which means the cursed wards around the Graveyard did work. Now, for the next part of the plan...
A minuscule smirk crosses the woman's features as she turns towards the remaining four fallen bodies.
With the CPUs defeated, it's only a matter of time now...!
And nothing can stop ASIC now...!